Suffolk Art Gallery exhibit highlights craft mediums – The Suffolk News-Herald

For those interested in non-traditional, experimental forms of art, the Suffolk Art Gallery is showcasing 10 hand-selected creatives who work with craft mediums, including wood, glass, fiber, metal, and clay — a brand-new type of exhibit for the gallery. 

Jennifer Lucy, Cultural Arts Coordinator of the Gallery, said a committee of six members gathered in March to create a “wishlist” of craft medium artists they would like to see displayed in a gallery setting. 

Including Lucy, committee members include: Linda Bunch, retired executive director of the Suffolk Art League; Beth Dryer, founder and director of the 757 Creative Reuse Center; Jennifer Hand, interim programs and studio director at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts and conference manager for the Glass Art Society; Kimberly McKinnis, educator, curator, and owner of For All Handkind Gallery; and Michelle Odom, founder of Crafted markets.

“There’s a lot of craft artists in our region, but they’re not always in exhibitions, they’re not always in a gallery setting,” Lucy said. “You might find them at a market or something like that, but so manu of them are creating quality work that should be featured in museums and galleries.”

Not all of the featured artists are new to the gallery or museum scene, but many of them have never had their work displayed so prominently.

Lucy said once the artists were chosen, she met with all of them one-on-one in order to determine how to display their work in the gallery in the best way. There are many pieces that lend themselves to unique wall displays, or interesting lighting.

For example, Heather Sutherland’s “Baby, You ARE a Diamond” is a mound of mirrored tiles and oversized bubbles that needs to shine under a spotlight. Sutherland’s other piece, “Bitter Fruit,” is hanging off a metal rod screwed into the wall. 

“My goal, really, is to play up what they’re hoping to show, because we’re the platform,” Lucy said. “I’m very interested in what their ideas are, what they bring to the table, because it ends up being so much cooler that way than if it was just my ideas alone.”

Sutherland is a glass artist and educator based in Norfolk, and she uses glass to explore dualities such as fragility and strength, beauty and struggle, and failure and resilience. 

“My current work focuses on failure — what it does, how it hurts, and how it shapes me,” reads her artist statement. “Failure doesn’t feel good, but it has made me who I am today. By sharing my trials and tribulations, I hope failure can be seen not as weakness, but as strength and tenacity.”

Two artists from each of the craft mediums were asked to participate in the exhibit, and they are from a variety of cities in the Coastal Virginia region.

Artist Lyncia Berry is described as a “gremlin in disguise who dug their way out of a pit of bones and teeth.” They currently reside in Chesapeake and work as a glass artist and photographer. 

Berry’s only piece in the exhibit makes a bold statement. In their artist statement, Berry wrote that “Extraction” is “a visceral manifestation of the fear of tooth loss, serving as a symbolic representation of relinquishing control.”

“Extraction” takes up a small wall of its own with individual glass containers holding a liquid resembling blood and small, sculpted teeth. There’s also a 3D element to the piece, with a medical tray holding gloves, dental instruments, and a pile of oversized sculpted teeth.

Many of the featured artists are immigrants, or children of immigrants, including Berry, Ariannah Chaochang, Valentina Copeland, and Nikki Leone. Themes of identity, culture, and heritage can be seen in their work.

A collection of ceramics from Sherród Faulks is displayed at the gallery. After a 20-year career in software design, he founded DEEP BLACK, a ceramic design studio.

His collection, titled “KINGDOM COME” is made up of over 60 hand-crafted objects. The showcase features pieces designed for the kitchen, dining room, desk, and shelf. Each set is unique while remaining harmonious with the others. 

Macie Rollins also provided an uncommon art form through her tufted masterpieces.

“The works I’ve brought to this exhibition explore the possibilities of fiber beyond traditional craft,” she wrote in her artist statement. “Each piece is an experiment in form, texture, and material — sculpting fiber into three-dimensional shapes, layering unexpected surfaces, and incorporating light to create tactile, dynamic experiences.”

In the Suffolk Art Gallery’s Coastal Virginia Craft Invitational, creativity is found on every wall, and in every corner. In this first-of-its-kind exhibit, the community is invited to open their eyes to a new world of art.